KLOPP WINS QUESTION TIME
Milner queries switch before Reds hit three
JAMES MILNER felt duty-bound to make a rare apology as Liverpool continued their return to form.
It is not often football’s Mr Dependable steps anywhere near the line, let alone over it.
But, even at 35, he is not too old to learn you never argue with the gaffer.
Especially if the gaffer is Jurgen Klopp.
In fairness, the eventual scoreline was no reflection of nearly an hour of turgid football in which West Ham lacked composure when in possession and Liverpool were devoid of sparkle.
Mo Salah’s low drive on the stroke of half-time had been Liverpool’s first shot on target and was easily saved.A brilliant block by Aaron Cresswell just after the break denied the same player as Liverpool cranked things up about half a notch.
But when at the other end Michail Antonio came close with a shot on the turn, it was time for things to change – Curtis Jones was to replace Milner, the fourth official’s board said.
An uncharacteristically animated Milner wanted to know why?
“We have to do something, so I put Jones on to do a bit ‘more’,” Klopp was reported to have said by former striker Jan Aage Fjortoft, working pitchside for Norwegian TV.
The Liverpool boss accompanied it with a hug for his player to show there was no hard feeling.
Just 20 seconds later Salah jiggled back and forth in a mesmerising dance before curling the ball past the entranced Cresswell and into the top corner. Naturally, it was Jones who
had provided the assist. Laughing, Milner went back out to the touchline to say, “fair play!” to his gaffer.
Well, if that was fair play, what followed 11 minutes later was rather remarkable play.
West Ham had largely neutralised a Liverpool side that, on top of all the other injuries, were missing Sadio Mane with a “minor muscle injury”. They won a corner on their right.
Touch one – Jones flicked the ball away from danger.
Touch two – Trent AlexanderArnold launched a 70-yard diagonal pass to set Xherdan Shaqiri away.
Touch three – the Swiss met the ball first time with a 40-yard cross into the box.
Touch four – Salah brought it perfectly under control before – touch five – flicking it into the net. Remarkable indeed.
Passages of play like that remind how devastating Liverpool can be and how early it would be to write them out of the title chase on the back of points dropped during an injury crisis.
Because when their creative talents are playing for fun, they are unstoppable. Some magical one-touch football ended with Roberto Firmino setting up Gini Wijnaldum for a tap-in third to mark his 200th Premier League appearance.
It was beginning to look more than a little harsh on shell-shocked West Ham, but Klopp will be frustrated by the manner of their consolation three minutes before the end.
None of the Liverpool defence could get anything more than the faintest headers on Cresswell’s corner and the unmarked Craig Dawson swept the ball home.
Perhaps it is fitting that the giant hole should open up right in the heart of the defence again with just a day of the transfer window still to go.
The controversial decision not to fill that Virgil van Dijk-sized gap has cost them and the second half of the season will be a chase to the line.
If the window slams shut tonight with nobody coming in, questions will again be asked of Klopp as to whether he got that particular call badly wrong.
One thing is for sure, though. won’t be Milner asking them.
It